The French-American Foundation Weekly Brief

FRANCE

President Nicolas Sarkozy set his goals for the New Year in a nationwide broadcast on the evening of Friday, December 31, the Nouvel Observateur reported. The president, who saw record-low approval ratings amid mass protests of retirement reform in 2010, vowed to continue his reform efforts in 2011, promising to make the new year a “useful” one despite the shift in focus to the presidential elections 16 months away. Sarkozy said he would work to protect the interests of France and French identity through fiscal reform and social policy. Included in the televised address was an assertion that France must continue its commitment to the Euro and a common currency for the EuroZone for the European Union and its members to prosper financially, according to the Wall Street Journal. The president will wait to elaborate upon international projects for the new year, however, until a press conference to be held January 24, allowing Sarkozy to first meet with US President Barack Obama on January 10. Meeting at the White House, the two will discuss global recovery, foreign policy, and security issues, according to Bloomberg.

France’s highest court refused an appeal on a previous decision to extradite Rwandan Callixte Mbarushimana to the Hague to face 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, BBC reported. A refugee in France since 2002, Mbarushimana was charged in October for contributing to ethnic violence led by the ethnic Hulu FDLR group in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009, according to Le Figaro. Following the decision, Rwandan officials encouraged France to arrest other genocide fugitives residing in France, according to Bloomberg. Among crimes still under investigation by the ICC and the Rwandan government are violent acts committed in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and subsequent waves of violence, murder, and rape throughout the region.

An unidentified man threw a homemade bomb and fired several shots at the French embassy in Mali in the evening of Wednesday, January 5, the Washington Post reported. A Tunisian man was detained shortly after the attack, in which two Malian workers were wounded, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Initial suspicions indicated that the attack came as part of the terrorist efforts of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a movement stemming from a separate terrorist group in Algeria and growing throughout northern and western Africa. In interrogating the suspect, believed to be a member of AQIM, police reported that the 25-year-old Tunisian described himself as having a deep hatred of France, Le Figaro reported.

An American diplomatic cable released this week in the Norwegian newspaper, Aftenposten, claimed that France is culpable of the most widespread industrial espionage in Europe, CBS News reported. European leaders have accused several countries of eavesdropping and returning trade secrets to companies at home, namely the United States. However, an undated cable from the US embassy in Berlin claimed that French corporate spying surpassed that of the United States, China, and Russia, having negative impacts on the corporate development of German companies. Separate cables from 2009 and 2010 also released in Aftenposten discussed a joint project between Germany and the United States to develop high-resolution observation satellites capable of detecting much smaller objects across the globe and retrievable at a faster pace, according to AFP. The cables discussed strong opposition from France toward the project, which is framed as a civilian project for environmental purposes but believed to be advanced spy technology.

Torrential rains swept the French island of Guadeloupe starting Sunday, January, leaving five dead, BBC reported. Affecting mainly the area around the city of Point-à-Pitre, an SUV carrying five people was swept off the road late in the night of Tuesday, January 4. During the following hours, all five were discovered dead, according to Le Point. While officials have cited the reckless decision to drive in such conditions, locals have voiced frustration with the late warning of the severity of the rain and flood possibilities, according to France 24. Météo France raised the flood alert levels from yellow to orange early in the morning of Wednesday, January 5.